Monday, 24 February 2014

19 February 2014 Dr Sketchy DJ Set List

/ She's a brick ... house /

The first Dr Sketchy of the New Year was quite simply one of the best ever. In fact last Wednesday night at The Royal Vauxhall Tavern felt like
Dr Sketchy being plunged back to its classic golden age (or age d’or, if you
prefer).

First of all, hostess with the mostest (or should that be “moistest”?),
emcee Ophelia Bitz was back in charge of proceedings and on raunchy form. Think
of her as the toilet-mouthed and debauched Tallulah Bankheaddu nos jours. Bad
girl of cabaret Ophelia and her boyfriend upped sticks and re-located to Bristol a while
back, so this was a rare London appearance (I’m pretty sure I hadn't seen her
since Bestival 2012). Boy, do we miss
her at Dr Sketchy. Resplendent in gold sequins, at one point she apologised to the crowd for
not having washed beforehand and explained Febreeze is the patron saint of
cabaret. Later, circulating through the crowd and glancing at their drawings,
she stopped at one, exclaimed, “That’s disgusting!” and gave a filthy cackle.

Both of the night’s guest performers / models, Amelie Soleil
and Fancy Chance, were cabaret crème de la crème and Dr Sketchy doyennes who
hadn't performed for us in ages. I’d only ever seen “Britain’s Tiniest Tease” Soleil
once before (at the May 2012 Dr Sketchy at The Old Queen’s Head) and didn't
recognise her at first at The Royal Vauxhall Tavern: she’s since shuttled from
blonde to Ann-Margret not-found-in-nature red. (Needless to say I slipped in an Ann-Margret track
while Soleil modeled – not that I need much excuse).

/ Totally gratuitous cheesecake bathing suit “glamour shot” of
Fancy Chance at Bestival 2012 – just for the hell of it /

Like with Ophelia, I hadn't seen maverick burlesque comedienne Fancy Chance
since Dr Sketchy and Time for Tease at Bestival 2012. Chance’s routine was certainly au courant: Prince
has been causing a sensation in London lately, playing tiny intimate gigs that
instantly sell out. The savvy Chance
dusted off her Prince tribute act (she howls along and strips to “Kiss”) and
was probably far more entertaining than the genuine article himself these days. Perhaps
unsurprisingly, I don’t have any Prince tracks in my collection. But figuring
Chance in male drag (with her tousled pompadour bouffant wig and pencil-line
pimp mustache) looked just as much like Little Richard, Esquerita or Masaaki Hirao as Prince, I cranked-up songs by them during her poses instead.

/ Sadly, we never seem to get people taking and submitting photos at Dr Sketchy anymore, but to give you a flavour, here is the sublime Fancy Chance doing her Prince act at the Time for Tease tent at Bestival 2012 /

Of course primitive, pagan and taboo exotica lounge music
will always hold a special place in my heart. Whether it’s Dr Sketchy or my own
night Lobotomy Room, I like to ease into things early on by playing atmospheric
and eerie exotica by the likes of Martin Denny and Les Baxter just as people
are arriving, probably making them wonder, “Where the hell am I?” I've written
before about my admiration for the mesmerising and enigmatic Korla Pandit, but only just recently started incorporating his weird and
wonderful music into my sets. He is the high emperor of exotica to Peruvian
diva Yma Sumac’s high empress. Playing two tracks back-to-back by
these two is spine-tingling and intoxicating.

/ Historic Encounter Between Exotica High Royalty: Yma Sumac (1922-2008) and Korla Pandit (1921-1998) crossing paths in the early 1980s. We are not worthy ... /

/ Korla Pandit (and a very pretty Asian male dancer) in action in his 1950s prime. Look deep into his eyes /

2 comments:

I would have been about 19 years old when I bought a second hand copy of Lydia Lunch’s Queen of Siam record (I still have it: that photo of her scowling with the black leather studded bra is one of THE great post-punk album covers) . It changed my freaking life! It’s on my iPod to this day.